President Joe Biden touted his administration’s accomplishments in well being care in a wide-ranging State of the Union tackle on Thursday night that touched on topics comparable to immigration, the economic system, crime, job development, infrastructure, and the Israel-Hamas battle.
With Biden and former President Donald Trump now the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees, Biden used the roughly 68-minute speech to counter his lackluster public approval scores and draw clear contrasts between his administration’s insurance policies and people of Trump and a few congressional Republicans. But he by no means talked about Trump by title, as an alternative referring to him as his “predecessor.”
Biden got here out swinging, talking about freedom and democracy, and help for Ukraine and NATO. And he reminded lawmakers that historical past is watching.
Our PolitiFact companions fact-checked the talk in actual time. Read the full protection right here.
Early within the speech, Biden pointed to the current Alabama Supreme Court choice that successfully shut down in vitro fertilization therapies throughout the state, though its governor signed a invoice into legislation March 6 to protect sufferers and suppliers from potential authorized legal responsibility.
Biden challenged his “friends across the aisle” to “guarantee the right to IVF nationwide,” and linked this concern on to the 2022 Supreme Court choice overturning Roe v. Wade.
White House friends for the speech included Latorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama, whose IVF therapies had been canceled due to her state’s courtroom choice; and Kate Cox, who was denied an emergency abortion by the Texas Supreme Court. Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus sat en bloc, carrying white to indicate solidarity for reproductive rights.
“Like most Americans, I believe Roe v. Wade got it right,” Biden mentioned, including that his “predecessor” got here to workplace “determined” to see it overturned and has bragged about its undoing. “Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.”
Biden’s different well being care hits included the primary steps in implementing Medicare drug worth negotiations, one thing on Democrats’ longtime coverage want checklist that grew to become legislation as a part of the Inflation Reduction Act he signed in August 2022. He famous that the federal medical insurance program for seniors is now — for the primary time — negotiating decrease costs for a number of the costliest medication available on the market. He pointed not solely to the financial savings it could deliver seniors, but additionally to the federal funds. Currently, 10 medication are on the checklist, which will likely be added to in future years. Biden known as for an growth of this system: “Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade.”
He additionally claimed victory with different Medicare-related adjustments in that legislation — together with a $35 insulin worth cap and a $2,000 worth cap on Medicare out-of-pocket drug bills. In every of case, he challenged Congress to behave with him to broaden these steps to incorporate everybody.
When it got here to the Affordable Care Act, he mentioned it’s “still a very big deal” and pledged not solely to guard it, but additionally to broaden it by working to make everlasting the tax subsidies first superior on the peak of the covid-19 pandemic to make medical insurance extra inexpensive.
“My predecessor and many in this chamber want to take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act; I won’t let that happen,” he mentioned, drawing heckles from opponents within the viewers.
Afterward, some Republicans, together with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), mentioned the tackle was overly partisan. Trump slammed it, telling Fox News that Biden “suffers from a terminal case of Trump derangement syndrome.” And Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) gave the GOP response.
Here are well being care highlights from PolitiFact:
“The Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state, unleashed by a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.”
On Feb. 16, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a ruling that mentioned frozen embryos ought to be thought-about kids.
The choice lacks the facility to close down in vitro fertilization therapies statewide. But it induced a number of clinics within the state to pause IVF therapies as they reviewed the choice and potential liabilities.
Since then, Alabama lawmakers handed laws to protect IVF suppliers from civil or prison legal responsibility in a rush to guard fertility therapies after backlash grew. Two clinics introduced they had been resuming operations after Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed the legislation.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) — who had two daughters utilizing in vitro fertilization — launched a comparable federal invoice geared toward defending IVF. But Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) blocked it Feb. 28, saying it was a “vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far — far beyond ensuring legal access to IVF.”
“If you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
PolitiFact continues to charge Biden’s promise to codify Roe v. Wade as “Stalled.”
Biden known as on Congress to assist him obtain his 2020 marketing campaign promise to codify Roe v. Wade.
He can’t do it alone.
The Supreme Court dominated in 2022 to overturn Roe, ending practically 50 years of federally protected abortion entry.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) launched the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023, which might prohibit governmental restrictions on entry to abortion. But it has no Republican co-sponsors and didn’t advance.
PolitiFact has been monitoring Biden’s marketing campaign promise to codify Roe v. Wade, certainly one of about 100 guarantees on the Biden Promise Tracker. The lack of 10 Republicans wanted to beat an anticipated filibuster has stalled Biden’s efforts on codification. That impediment remained even after Democrats saved slim management of the Senate within the midterms.
“Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere in the world.”
PolitiFact rated the same declare by Biden as “Mostly True.”
U.S. per capita spending on prescribed drugs is almost thrice the common of different superior, industrialized international locations that comprise the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. A examine by the Rand Corp., a nonpartisan analysis group, discovered that, throughout all medication, U.S. costs had been 2.78 instances as excessive because the mixed costs in 33 OECD international locations.
The hole was even bigger for brand-name medication, with U.S. costs averaging 4.22 instances as a lot as these as compared nations. The U.S. pays lower than comparable nations for unbranded, generic medication, which account for about 90% of crammed prescriptions within the nation but make up solely one-fifth of prescription drug spending.
Researchers say components together with country-specific pricing, confidential rebates, and different reductions can obscure precise costs, making comparisons more durable.